The signature has dried, the contract is valid: as published earlier on ehfcl.com, Olafur Stefansson will become a “Lion”. The Icelandic world class player, currently plays for Ciudad Real, will move to the Rhein Neckar Löwen at the end of the season after he signed a two-year contract. “Many things changed in the last five years since I left Germany. There are new, big objectives for me in Germany. The objective of Löwen is to beat THW Kiel sometime. Aside it’s a great challenge for me to work with a coach such as Noka Serdarusic,” Stefansson explained. In 2002, one year after the German title, he led SC Magdeburg to a Champions League title. This was the first ever won by a German club. The left handed player arrived in Wuppertal from Iceland. In 2003 he was transferred to Ciudad Real where he won the Champions League twice (2006 and 2008). Stefansson played 263 international matches for Iceland and scored 1250 goals. His biggest success was taking the silver in Beijing, where he was voted into the all-star team. He was also World Player of the Year twice. Thorsten Storm, manager of the Rhein Neckar Löwen, was highly impressed after the contract with Stefansson was signed: “He is an absolute world class player, a leader with a lot of experience. Players like him are a gift for any club in the world.” And the gift was given by Jesper Nielsen, the Danish sponsor of the club, who now is member of the club board. Rumour has it that “Löwen” want to sign some more top players including Holger Glandorf, Siarhei Rutenka or maybe even Nikola Karabatic. When new players arrive, others have to leave: after the Belarus international Sergei Shelmenko, signed for Chechovski Medvedi, now also Mariusz Jurasik leaves the club. The “Löwen” wing player and right back will return to Poland and signed a three-year contract in Kielce where Bogdan Wenta will start building a top club with Polish players. Grzegorz Tkackyk is also rumoured to move for HSV Hamburg – but HSV president Andreas Rudolph said that there was no need to sign the Polish international.TEXT: Björn Pazen